DUBAI, 29 November 2002 — Asian missions in the UAE are gearing up for the general amnesty for illegal immigrants, which is set to start next Jan. 1 and will last for three months.
According to sources, circulars have been received by all the missions in Abu Dhabi. The last amnesty declared by the UAE was in 1996. It lasted four months and nearly 170,000 illegals took advantage of it and left.
There was a huge rush of people at Asian missions last time, with people wishing to leave including maids, delivery boys and those who had entered the country by land through the eastern sector.
Indian Consul-General Dr. George Joseph said that Indians who need an Emergency Certificate (EC) to leave the UAE should apply now rather than wait till the last moment. “It takes time to check the information. Let’s not forget Indians are in large numbers here.”
But he added: “Our responsibility is to take care of our citizens. But we cannot compel any one to go back regardless of whether there is an amnesty or not. If an Indian says that he does not have a passport or any other document, but proves that he is an Indian citizen, we will help him.
“We will issue him an EC but we are not the ones to tell him in how many days he should leave the country. That is the individual’s responsibility. The outpasses are issued by the local authorities once the EC is stamped,” Joseph said.
He pointed out that the Indian mission, like all other foreign missions, is a facilitating office and not a policing one. “People wait for amnesty for a simple reason. Under normal circumstances any individual who overstays will have to pay a fine. Amnesty basically means waiving of that fine.
“So people feel that once the amnesty is declared they can get the documents and obtain the waiver.But my advice is that the two should not be linked. If you need an EC to travel to India, this is the the time to apply. But if you wait for the amnesty, you should also consider that we are also human in this office. There is a point where the pressure of people applying could be too much for us,” he emphasized.Joseph said the process of issuing the certificate has been computerized. “We have devised a computer-generated EC for which we have got approval from New Delhi. It is of two pages and the data will be stored in the computer.” (GN)
